The latest offering from Bollywood once again reveals the dark side of today’s “Review Market” prevailing in the Industry. Where last week’s EK MAIN AUR EKK TU didn’t really deserved the 3-4 stars ratings given by many, the current week’s EKK DEEWANA THA also doesn’t deserve the 1-2 star ratings given by most of the critics, stating it as a very poor film. So there is evidently a huge imbalance in the reviews which largely get influenced by the production house and stars in the film instead of the product’s actual content.

Coming to EKK DEEWANA THA, it certainly isn’t any great piece of art or path-breaking film with some fresh ideas. It talks about the same ages old love story between two young souls, who not only have a slight age difference but who also come from two extremely diverse regional & religious backgrounds causing all the problems. The script can easily be called predictable as we have already seen the same emotional drama umpteen times before on the screen. But still EDT isn’t a complete washout as being written in many reputed reviews. It’s a sweet film with a refreshing first half which keeps you engaged and entertained till the interval. Plus it also has its moments post intermission resulting in an above average film far better than many craps churned out by some big production houses in the name of Love Stories.

Following the current remake trend EKK DEEWANA THA is the Hindi version of director Gautham Menon’s earlier 2 hits namely VINNAITHAANDI VARUVAAYAA (Tamil) and YE MAAYA CHESAVE (Telugu). In the initial reels it even reminds you of Kamal Hassan-Rati Agnihotri starrer EK DUJE KE LIYE which also revolved around a love affair in some similar circumstances. But as it progresses it moves on to a different path involving an interesting marriage sequence and its loving results.

So what’s watchable in this routine love-saga? The answer comes in the form of Amy Jackson, Manu Rishi and to a certain extent Prateik too. However the sole charmer in the film remains Amy who looks stunningly gorgeous especially in the Indian outfits. Though she doesn’t get a well defined character (who remains confused) along with a poor make-up in many scenes, still she keeps the viewer hooked on to her innocent beauty till the end and acts well. The second reason why EDT rises above a routine love story is Manu Rishi, who holds the film together with his natural style and entertaining one liners particularly in the first half. But if only he had something more to do in the script, it would have resulted in a much finer product for the audience.

Prateik manages to impress in his casual approach towards the role but the boy seriously needs to work harder on his dance and emotional scenes. At times both his body language and dialogue delivery goes in an awkward zone which hampers the impact of his otherwise fine performance. In the supporting cast Sachin Khedekar performs the best as Prateik’s friendly father.

Apart from the actors it’s the Cinematography (taking you on to a Kerala tour) and few songs by A. R. Rahman which together raise the standard of this routine love story. Yet the maestro isn’t in his full form as he once again gives a soundtrack below expectations with traces of “Kabhi Kabhi Aditi” (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) in his “Hosanna””.

Actually EDT is a fine film till the intermission and it doesn’t disappoint the viewer despite of having a routine storyline mainly due to its fresh pair and Manu. In fact this is the reason why Love Stories have always been there in every decade featuring two unknown faces since they can easily make an instant connection with the public and can deliver a Hit.

But EDT is not able to reach that crescendo due to its pretty weak second half and a prolonged climax which eventually ends on an “All is Well” note unexpectedly. It would have been a different film altogether if it had a more realistic climax where there was no re-union of the lovers but they still remained friends living their separate lives in two different parts of the world.

The writers falter in a big way as they are not able to define the character of the girl in a justified manner. Yes a girl in love always remains in a dilemma, when it comes to choosing between her boyfriend and her parents. But the writers here give no proper justification for the love birds parting away from each other all of a sudden. Moreover it all starts dragging in the last 30 minutes without any purpose, which fails to leave any loving impact on the viewers.

In my opinion the love-affair in the film should have ended right there in the Taj Mahal corridors showing a married Amy saying good bye to Prateik and the film should have ended with everyone praising the directorial venture of Pratiek being loudly cheered by Manu Rishi standing along with him in the theater. That would have been a more ideal and realistic ending of a tragic love story as I see it.

Anyhow, in its present version EKK DEEWANA THA is a sweet film with a fine first half and a beautiful Amy which surely can be watched once without any doubt. So if you are really interested in love stories, then please forget all the negative reviews you might have read about the movie as it certainly isn’t that bad at all as projected in those well publicized write-ups. And its undoubtedly much better than the last week's EK MAIN AUR EKK TU.

Respected Sir,
The actual climax of the film is one in which the lead pair do not get together in the end.
The original movie when made in tamil was an instant hit.The movie when remade for the Andhra audience, did not fetch a positive response ... so they tweaked the climax and they get together in the end in the telugu version.The movie then became a huge hit.

Now for the hindi version the producers might have been in a huge fix. So they released two versions of the movie.One version is the mass version,which has a happy ending and the other version is the directors cut which has the original ending of them seperating.Originally when i watched the tamil movie it was just about any other romance movie but the climax was so touching that i immediately sat for the next show.

Agreed that it was not a mind-blowing movie but i believe the aesthetics were correct.It was not a remake of a foreign rom com.It was something that could happen to anyone of us.I suggest that you watch the directors cut of the hindi version..honestly it was not bad sir.

Keeping in mind the trash that comes out in the name of romance i think this one had its heart in place. Regards

Dear Jithin,
First of all thanks for informing us about the two different climxes in the Original Versions.
And the fact explains it all that why it was a HIT in its original version.
Even I expected a not so happy ending as written in my review, but Bollywood has its fears too hence they might have opted out of that to avoid making a sad movie.

Secondly, It is not written bad anywhere in my review and I have rated it much higher than many reputed critics who have even given it as low as a 1 star film.

Lastly I have frankly no news and information about its two versions released and nor I have any clue about Director's Cut you are referring too. As per my knowledge the Director Cut if any, can only be there in the DVD but releasing it with two different prints differentitating the audience itself....that simply is news for me and I am hearing it for the first time.

So if you have some precise info then do let me know where is that Director's Cut released as I would love to watch it.

It was really not known to me about the two versions as it was never well publicised in the adverts and the newspapers didnt have any clear mention about that.

Moreover, as a story teller, I strictly disapprove this idea of two versions as it clearly shows the confusion of the writer director both. Since they themselves are not confident of what ending is better for their story, hence it is bound to go the negative way somewhere or the other. And thats exactly what has happened with EDT.

Its fine to have a Director's Cut in a DVD but releasing it in two different ending versions in the theater - dividing the audience itself, is beyond my understanding. It is nothing but lack of confidence and conviction in your own product as I see it. In other words it is like the writer never knew clearly about his own created characters which is really funny.

And very rightly the idea has bombed as it should be treated the same way.

Infact now I am smiling at this whole episode, thinking about the writer-director who thought of this ridiculous idea from the story-telling point of view.

Anyway thanks for informing about the fact and I am glad that I never knew it before watching the film., Otherwise it would have been a very negative review from my side criticising this very point with very less rating for the film made by a team of confused writers and director.

Bobby sir,
I back your thought.It moreover shows their cowardice.Their fear that they might not succeed commercially if they put the original ending.A film maker should always clarity onto what his product is and stand by it even if it means that it is not a commercially viable preposition.However as a normal guy who would have watched EDT(directors cut) ,without any notion whatsoever i think it would have been a good experience and something to take home too.

Dear Bobby,
Sorry, I too am not aware of this. I saw only the original,its news to me that it has two endings .As you said this is wrong, it shows the cowadice act on the part of director, I usually never comment before seeing the film, as I saw tamil version, I thought it will be the same. When one create something, one should be sure of oneself. The whole beauty will be lost here. The one I appreaciate was the original sad end.

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